TexasCHLforum.com

Bob in Big D wrote:

knotquiteawake wrote:Now if you read this article:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/18765043/ ... d-molester" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It says:

"In the course of trying to get her away from him, and protect her, he struck the subject several times in the head and the subject died,"

That sounds like Lawyer speak...... Must have lawyered up. Good for him

That was from the sheriff

mamabearCali wrote:That brings truth to the "worst case of suicide I ever saw in my life" quip.

The piece of excrement was in the midst of committing a heinous crime, the piece of excrement died in the commission of said crime. He committed suicide. I love it.


Edited to Add:

Thank you Keith for bringing in your perspective. Can I borrow your words for another gun forum I am on? (Not as my own, but as a reference from a LEO).

Sure.

sjfcontrol wrote:

Purplehood wrote:"I didn't think he was stopping the assault..."

"He never said, 'I give up!'."

I could go on all day.

The assault was stopped when the father pulled him off the little girl. What isn't clear about that?

PC 9.33 "Defense of a third person" References Section 9.32 "Deadly force in defense of a person", which in part, reads...

PC §9.32. DEADLY FORCE IN DEFENSE OF PERSON. (a) A person is justified in using deadly force against another:
[snip]
(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
[snip]
(B) to prevent the other's imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.

Once the assault was stopped (and therefore, no longer imminent), what would be the justification for deadly force?

But you obviously want to kill the guy -- don't let the law stop you!

This is not another bystander or a cop stopping the assault, it was the girls father. It is all going to come down to the father's mindset and how long he continued to punch the guy after pulling him off of his daughter. Even though Texas has no temporary insanity or 'Crime of Passion' law, his immediate fear for his daughter's safety and well being driving him to violence will play heavily in the Grand Jury's decision to no-bill or not.

When you get into a physical fight with a person committing a crime, there are no Marquess of Queensberry rules; it is stop at all costs or potentially be bludgeoned yourself. And when the adrenaline is pumping, it is VERY hard to just cut the emotion off, even for trained police officers. There are quite a few high speed pursuit videos where you see after a 20 minute pursuit the officers are so pumped they can't control their emotion and use excessive force. There is not a ref to step in and keep you from throwing the next punch, no towel thrown to signal they give up and no bell that rings. Trying to stop when your adrenaline is pushed, especially when a crime has been committed against a helpless young child, in this case his own daughter, would enrage anyone to the point they would potentially have to be pulled off of the victim.

Bottom line, unless the father had stopped, the guy was laying there not moving and then the father went back after a minute or two and continued to punch on him, this is a pretty clear-cut case of defense of a third person IMO.

Even if he did continue to punch the attacker, a very viable defense would be temporary insanity. Upon seeing my child or wife being sexually assaulted, I can guarantee I would not be in my right mind and would not be able to calm down immediately. If it was not happening to someone I have a strong emotional bond with, then things might be different upon the attack being stopped.

ShepherdTX wrote:

Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon identified the scumbag as a 47-year-old man from Gonzales, Texas

There, I fixed it even better.

I am sure the father was just doing what he had to do to stop the attack. In stopping the attacker, it just so happened to end his life. Unfortunately that is a possiblity that exists and the attacker paid for his bad deeds.

I really feel for the whole family of the girl on this one. There is a lot of trauma and post event physical and emotional issues that they will have to deal with from many angles. Hopefully they have a strong support system within the friends, family and community that will help them get back on a regular path for their lives soon.